Post by larue on Jul 30, 2007 13:22:01 GMT 10
Luka pulled his car into the snow cleared driveway and grinned when he saw Susie and Cosmo hard at work on a snowman in the front yard. He waved as he got out of the car.
“Thank you for doing my drive way too!” he called. Susie waved back.
“Well, it’s warmer out here than it is in there,” she laughed. Luka grimaced.
“Still not talking to one another, eh?” he groaned. Susie shook her head. He frowned.
“But Aunt Susan is going to be working a double shift at Northwestern so…..” She grinned. Luka chuckled and nodded.
“Where’s Lauren?” he asked as he headed to ward the steps. “She was excited about making snowmen.”
“Lauren’s sick,” Cosmo said as he stood up and put his hands on his hips. “We’re making a snowman for her. We’re going to make it waving to her right up there.” He pointed a mittened finger in the general direction of Lauren’s bedroom window. Luka grinned.
“You do that and I will help her make a snowball fight with you when she’s better!” Cosmo jumped up happily and then landed on his bottom in a snow drift. Luka laughed and hurried up the steps. His smile faded as he dropped his bag onto the couch and took in the sight of his little girl wrapped in a blanket on the couch. Her eyes were barely open as she tried to watch television.
“Helyo, Tata,” she said weakly as she looked at him.
“Hello, baby…” he replied with a worried frown. Luka moved forward and pressed cool fingers to her too warm forehead. He sat on the couch and pulled her, blanket and all, into his lap. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“You might want to take your jacket off,” Abby suggested wearily as she made her way toward him. “She’s been vomiting on everything. I just put her bedding into the wash again.”
“It’s the flu then,” Luka said as he snuggled the warm little bundle closer and kissed her head again. “She probably got it from someone at her daycare place.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Abby sighed cynically. “She has an appointment with Neal and she is supposed to get her flu shot on Thursday. We had to cancel it a month ago because of those creepy old sniffles. I should have brought one home from the hospital for her.” Lauren managed a smile as he jostled her playfully and then closed her eyes.
“I can’t get her to eat or drink anything,” Abby said worriedly. “But she is urinating so she’s not dehydrated….yet.” Abby brushed the hair away from Lauren’s cheek.
“Wanna try another popsicle for Mama? Or maybe some soup?” she asked. Lauren’s eyes fluttered open a bit and she smiled again. She sighed and then drifted back to sleep in Luka’s arms.
“I hate this,” Abby muttered as she headed toward the kitchen door. “Doctors’ kids aren’t supposed to get sick.”
An hour later Luka quickly carried Lauren in to the ER as Abby followed. The waiting room had only a few patients waiting so they didn’t feel quite so guilty going right past triage. Abby’s eyes filled with tears as Luka carried the little girl toward an empty exam room. She heaved a heavy sigh as her eyes met those of a nurse at the triage station.
“Haleh?” she breathed.
“I am right behind you, honey,” her friend said as she picked up the plastic packets and saline bag that were waiting on the counter. Luka was peeling the purple snowsuit off Lauren and Abby sat on the gurney and took her on her lap. She slipped the sweat soaked nightie off and eased a pedes gown over the little girl. Lauren struggled weakly as she opened her fever bleared eyes and saw Haleh moving toward her with a needle.
“No….mommy….” she whimpered and then began to weakly struggle as Luka gently stretched her tiny arm and held it snuggly in one hand.
“It’s okay, baby,” Abby crooned. “Haleh is the best stick there is.” Abby struggled to hold back a sob of her own as Haleh began to swab the inside of the little girl’s elbow. Abby rested her head on top of Lauren’s and her arms tightened around her. The little girl wailed as Haleh deftly inserted a needle for a blood draw. Haleh was crooning softly to her and Luka’s other hand slipped down to hold the little girl’s legs still as she began to kick. One….two…three vials of blood and the needle was withdrawn. Haleh pressed a gauze pad to the draw spot and stretched a band aid to hold it in place. Lauren wheezed painfully as her chest heaved in and out. Haleh shook her head as she took Lauren’s other hand in her’s and checked the veins on the top. She swabbed the skin and waited for just a second. Lauren screamed again as the IV needle was driven into place, the tubes taped and her arm strapped to a board to hold it straight. Luka checked the saline bag’s drip and then kissed the sobbing little girl’s head. His eyes met Abby’s and she tried to reassure him with a worried smile. He kissed her cheek and then followed Haleh out of the room to get the blood samples off to the lab and to send for the pediatric attending on call. Abby snuggled her daughter closer and started to hum softly. Lauren lifted her head to look down at the Dora band aid Haleh had placed in the crook of her elbow and then leaned back to look at her mother. Carefully she raised her hand to her mother’s cheek. She didn’t smile as her fingertips rested there but Abby did. She kissed the tip of the little girl’s nose and rested her cheek on the top of her head. No. Doctors’ kids aren’t supposed to get sick.
It had been hours since they brought her in to the ER. Abby finally began to understand the frustration of parents who waited for their children to be seen and treated immediately. All these years she thought she had some inkling of understanding but in fact, she didn’t. She smoothed the hair from Lauren’s forehead back into the loose ponytail she had put in hours ago. The little girl didn’t stir. Her fever had lessened. Abby had taken her temperature herself. The antibiotics were obviously working. She adjusted the oxygen mask and then the blanket….again. Her head cocked as she looked at Lauren’s free hand. Abby lifted the little fingers to her lips and pressed a kiss to them. She took a deep breath and studied the pearly pink nail polish that still covered three little fingernails . Susie had done them. Hadn’t it just been days ago when Lauren had waltzed into the kitchen with her fingers waving for their approval, a huge grin on her face? Abby swallowed the sob in her throat and brushed away the tears that threatened to spill. She looked up as she saw Luka talking to Neal at the desk. Her heart began to race as they glanced toward her and then Luka held up his hand to stop Neal from following him. His face was grim as he strode to her and the buzzing began in her head as her fingers closed possessively around Lauren’s hand. She watched through the glass as Luka stopped to take gowns and face masks from the rack against the corridor wall. He pushed it open the door at last and smiled gently.
“What is it?” Abby asked slowly, guardedly. Luka approached and shook out the yellow gown and eased her arms through the sleeves.
“They’re moving her up to a Pedes isolation unit, Abby,” Luka said quietly. He tied the strings behind her neck and then handed her a face mask. “Her culture results came back. It’s MRSA.”
“Oh my god…….” Luka’s hands tightened around her as she fell against him limply. She steadied herself and then slipped the mask over her face and turned tear filled eyes back to the little girl on the gurney. She studied the little girl’s face. Lauren’s lips were open as she slept, a rasping rattling sound emanating from her chest. Her lashes lay on the fever pink cheeks. She could feel the fear building in her own chest. Oh god. MRSA? It could be deadly in small children. Children older than Lauren died from it. Teenagers even. She was unaware when the door to the room opened and Chuny breezed in with a gown and face mask on. She bustled around them moving the IV bag from a rolling stand to the removable one on the gurney. Her worried eyes met Abby’s and she tried to smile as she removed the oxygen mask and adjusted a pedes face mask over the little girl’s nose and mouth and then covered her with another blanket.
“But the antibiotics are working, Luka,” she insisted. “Her fever is down. I took her temperature myself.”
“They’re working now but not well enough,” he said. “They’re going to put her on something different upstairs. Neal is waiting to hear from an attending from infectious diseases.” She nodded.
‘There’s more, Abby,” Luka said as he gripped her from behind and reached over to put a hand on the blanket over Lauren’s thigh. “You can go up to pedes with her but you’re going to have to stay out of the room.” Abby glanced up at him with a stricken look.
“I have to stay with her, Luka,” Abby insisted. “She’ll be terrified if I’m not there!”
“I’m taking her up, Abby,” Chuny said. “I’m going to stay with her.”
“Luka….” Abby protested as his grip tightened on her.
“Abby, you’re pregnant,” he said. “It’s too dangerous for the baby.”
“But, Luka, she’s…..”
“I just finished my shift here, Abby,” Chuny said reassuringly as she saw the terror in Abby’s eyes. The transport aide was outside the door. “I won’t leave her side…..I promise.” Abby’s hand tightened on Lauren’s blankets, a guttural wail beginning to make its way from the pit of her stomach to her throat. Luka’s arms closed more securely around her as the gurney carrying their daughter was pulled out of the trauma room and into the ER corridor. Tears coursed down her cheeks as the wail turned into a muffled choking sob while she watched the gurney pushed into the open elevator door where Neal Davis was waiting. Chuny gave them a reassuring nod and then leaned to tuck the blanket more closely as the doors closed. Only then did Abby turn in Luka’s arms, pull the face mask off and pressed her cheek to his chest.
“She’s going to be all right, Luka,” she choked. “She’s going to be fine.” Her arms slipped around his waist, her hands resting on his back and she felt him shaking as he clung to her and cried.
Standing in the corridor of the pediatric isolation unit was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. For a while she had stood with her head pressed against the window as she watched Chuny with Lauren……and then Luka. She finally pulled a chair around to the glass door and sat to watch. People went in and came out. Every one of them used gowns, gloves and masks. They all nodded grimly at her as they went on their way. Cardiology residents and interns. Nephrology. Pulmonology. In and out. Cultures. Readings. Stats. Poking and prodding. And Lauren slept through most of it. The few times she had been awake while Chuny was with her, she had lifted her up to the door so Abby could see her. But then Lauren had cried and it was too hard not to go in. With Luka, it had been easier. He even coaxed a bit of a smile from her. Abby studied him now, sleeping next to Lauren’s bed in the recliner that was standard in every pediatric room. It was comfortable for most people but hardly constructed for someone as tall as he was. She supressed a smile as she saw that he had slipped his shoes off. Her eyes darted to the bed as Lauren stirred and then settled back to sleep. She stood up from her own chair and picked up the coffee cup she’d set on the nearby table. It was empty. She tossed it into the trash can and looked up as she noticed someone coming down the hall toward the glass doors of the isolation ward. It was Susan.
Abby waited as Susan signed in at the desk, spoke to the nurses there and then made her way toward her.
“Hi,” Susan said softly as she drew her into her arms. “You okay? I came as soon as I could.” Abby nodded as she pulled away and brushed tears from her eyes. Susan peered into the window of Lauren’s unit and her lips tightened.
“You two need to go home and get some rest,” she said. She pulled a gown from the rolling cart next to the door and handed a blanket to Abby as she pulled the gown on. Abby closed her eyes thankfully as she recognized the quilt Maggie had made for Lauren when she was born. Her blankie.
“I found that in a basket by the clothes dryer,” Susan said. “Did you bleach it?” Abby nodded and clung to it as she watched Susan tie the gown on and slip her hands into the required gloves. Susan’s eyes never left Abby’s face as she slipped the mask on and then took the blanket from her.
“Go home, Abby. You’ve been here almost twenty four hours,” Susan ordered. “You’re not going to do anyone any good if you get worn down yourself. I’ll send Luka out. Go home.”
“But what about Cosmo and Sus…..”
“Brett’s sister is home from college,” Susan said as she opened the glass door. “Word on the street is that she’s flunked out. Her mom is going crazy. Anyway, she’s going to pick them up and stay with them after school. Don’t worry about anything. Just…go….home and rest.” Abby nodded. Susan opened the door again.
“Oh, by the way,” she said. “You and I are going to have a heart to heart one day soon. I maybe forgot to fill you in about the house but you didn’t tell me about the baby. God…Abby!” Grateful tears flooded Abby’s eyes and she nodded as Susan scowled affectionately and then closed the door. Abby watched as Susan woke Luka and then turned to spread the little quilt over Lauren. She checked the IV and then listened as Luka rattled off what had been happening. She nodded and gestured him out of the room. Susan’s eyes were smiling at them as she leaned down close to Lauren’s ear. Abby heard snatches of what she was saying as Luka opened the door and pulled off the gown and mask he wore.
“One little hippo all alone, called TWO hippos on the phone…..” Susan said quietly. A hint of a smile crossed Lauren’s sleeping face. Abby took a deep breath and leaned close as Luka wrapped an arm across her shoulder.
“She’ll be fine,” he sighed. “Susan’s with her.” Abby nodded and kissed her fingers. She pressed the tips on the window and then they headed out of the isolation ward toward the elevator.
“Thank you for doing my drive way too!” he called. Susie waved back.
“Well, it’s warmer out here than it is in there,” she laughed. Luka grimaced.
“Still not talking to one another, eh?” he groaned. Susie shook her head. He frowned.
“But Aunt Susan is going to be working a double shift at Northwestern so…..” She grinned. Luka chuckled and nodded.
“Where’s Lauren?” he asked as he headed to ward the steps. “She was excited about making snowmen.”
“Lauren’s sick,” Cosmo said as he stood up and put his hands on his hips. “We’re making a snowman for her. We’re going to make it waving to her right up there.” He pointed a mittened finger in the general direction of Lauren’s bedroom window. Luka grinned.
“You do that and I will help her make a snowball fight with you when she’s better!” Cosmo jumped up happily and then landed on his bottom in a snow drift. Luka laughed and hurried up the steps. His smile faded as he dropped his bag onto the couch and took in the sight of his little girl wrapped in a blanket on the couch. Her eyes were barely open as she tried to watch television.
“Helyo, Tata,” she said weakly as she looked at him.
“Hello, baby…” he replied with a worried frown. Luka moved forward and pressed cool fingers to her too warm forehead. He sat on the couch and pulled her, blanket and all, into his lap. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“You might want to take your jacket off,” Abby suggested wearily as she made her way toward him. “She’s been vomiting on everything. I just put her bedding into the wash again.”
“It’s the flu then,” Luka said as he snuggled the warm little bundle closer and kissed her head again. “She probably got it from someone at her daycare place.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Abby sighed cynically. “She has an appointment with Neal and she is supposed to get her flu shot on Thursday. We had to cancel it a month ago because of those creepy old sniffles. I should have brought one home from the hospital for her.” Lauren managed a smile as he jostled her playfully and then closed her eyes.
“I can’t get her to eat or drink anything,” Abby said worriedly. “But she is urinating so she’s not dehydrated….yet.” Abby brushed the hair away from Lauren’s cheek.
“Wanna try another popsicle for Mama? Or maybe some soup?” she asked. Lauren’s eyes fluttered open a bit and she smiled again. She sighed and then drifted back to sleep in Luka’s arms.
“I hate this,” Abby muttered as she headed toward the kitchen door. “Doctors’ kids aren’t supposed to get sick.”
An hour later Luka quickly carried Lauren in to the ER as Abby followed. The waiting room had only a few patients waiting so they didn’t feel quite so guilty going right past triage. Abby’s eyes filled with tears as Luka carried the little girl toward an empty exam room. She heaved a heavy sigh as her eyes met those of a nurse at the triage station.
“Haleh?” she breathed.
“I am right behind you, honey,” her friend said as she picked up the plastic packets and saline bag that were waiting on the counter. Luka was peeling the purple snowsuit off Lauren and Abby sat on the gurney and took her on her lap. She slipped the sweat soaked nightie off and eased a pedes gown over the little girl. Lauren struggled weakly as she opened her fever bleared eyes and saw Haleh moving toward her with a needle.
“No….mommy….” she whimpered and then began to weakly struggle as Luka gently stretched her tiny arm and held it snuggly in one hand.
“It’s okay, baby,” Abby crooned. “Haleh is the best stick there is.” Abby struggled to hold back a sob of her own as Haleh began to swab the inside of the little girl’s elbow. Abby rested her head on top of Lauren’s and her arms tightened around her. The little girl wailed as Haleh deftly inserted a needle for a blood draw. Haleh was crooning softly to her and Luka’s other hand slipped down to hold the little girl’s legs still as she began to kick. One….two…three vials of blood and the needle was withdrawn. Haleh pressed a gauze pad to the draw spot and stretched a band aid to hold it in place. Lauren wheezed painfully as her chest heaved in and out. Haleh shook her head as she took Lauren’s other hand in her’s and checked the veins on the top. She swabbed the skin and waited for just a second. Lauren screamed again as the IV needle was driven into place, the tubes taped and her arm strapped to a board to hold it straight. Luka checked the saline bag’s drip and then kissed the sobbing little girl’s head. His eyes met Abby’s and she tried to reassure him with a worried smile. He kissed her cheek and then followed Haleh out of the room to get the blood samples off to the lab and to send for the pediatric attending on call. Abby snuggled her daughter closer and started to hum softly. Lauren lifted her head to look down at the Dora band aid Haleh had placed in the crook of her elbow and then leaned back to look at her mother. Carefully she raised her hand to her mother’s cheek. She didn’t smile as her fingertips rested there but Abby did. She kissed the tip of the little girl’s nose and rested her cheek on the top of her head. No. Doctors’ kids aren’t supposed to get sick.
It had been hours since they brought her in to the ER. Abby finally began to understand the frustration of parents who waited for their children to be seen and treated immediately. All these years she thought she had some inkling of understanding but in fact, she didn’t. She smoothed the hair from Lauren’s forehead back into the loose ponytail she had put in hours ago. The little girl didn’t stir. Her fever had lessened. Abby had taken her temperature herself. The antibiotics were obviously working. She adjusted the oxygen mask and then the blanket….again. Her head cocked as she looked at Lauren’s free hand. Abby lifted the little fingers to her lips and pressed a kiss to them. She took a deep breath and studied the pearly pink nail polish that still covered three little fingernails . Susie had done them. Hadn’t it just been days ago when Lauren had waltzed into the kitchen with her fingers waving for their approval, a huge grin on her face? Abby swallowed the sob in her throat and brushed away the tears that threatened to spill. She looked up as she saw Luka talking to Neal at the desk. Her heart began to race as they glanced toward her and then Luka held up his hand to stop Neal from following him. His face was grim as he strode to her and the buzzing began in her head as her fingers closed possessively around Lauren’s hand. She watched through the glass as Luka stopped to take gowns and face masks from the rack against the corridor wall. He pushed it open the door at last and smiled gently.
“What is it?” Abby asked slowly, guardedly. Luka approached and shook out the yellow gown and eased her arms through the sleeves.
“They’re moving her up to a Pedes isolation unit, Abby,” Luka said quietly. He tied the strings behind her neck and then handed her a face mask. “Her culture results came back. It’s MRSA.”
“Oh my god…….” Luka’s hands tightened around her as she fell against him limply. She steadied herself and then slipped the mask over her face and turned tear filled eyes back to the little girl on the gurney. She studied the little girl’s face. Lauren’s lips were open as she slept, a rasping rattling sound emanating from her chest. Her lashes lay on the fever pink cheeks. She could feel the fear building in her own chest. Oh god. MRSA? It could be deadly in small children. Children older than Lauren died from it. Teenagers even. She was unaware when the door to the room opened and Chuny breezed in with a gown and face mask on. She bustled around them moving the IV bag from a rolling stand to the removable one on the gurney. Her worried eyes met Abby’s and she tried to smile as she removed the oxygen mask and adjusted a pedes face mask over the little girl’s nose and mouth and then covered her with another blanket.
“But the antibiotics are working, Luka,” she insisted. “Her fever is down. I took her temperature myself.”
“They’re working now but not well enough,” he said. “They’re going to put her on something different upstairs. Neal is waiting to hear from an attending from infectious diseases.” She nodded.
‘There’s more, Abby,” Luka said as he gripped her from behind and reached over to put a hand on the blanket over Lauren’s thigh. “You can go up to pedes with her but you’re going to have to stay out of the room.” Abby glanced up at him with a stricken look.
“I have to stay with her, Luka,” Abby insisted. “She’ll be terrified if I’m not there!”
“I’m taking her up, Abby,” Chuny said. “I’m going to stay with her.”
“Luka….” Abby protested as his grip tightened on her.
“Abby, you’re pregnant,” he said. “It’s too dangerous for the baby.”
“But, Luka, she’s…..”
“I just finished my shift here, Abby,” Chuny said reassuringly as she saw the terror in Abby’s eyes. The transport aide was outside the door. “I won’t leave her side…..I promise.” Abby’s hand tightened on Lauren’s blankets, a guttural wail beginning to make its way from the pit of her stomach to her throat. Luka’s arms closed more securely around her as the gurney carrying their daughter was pulled out of the trauma room and into the ER corridor. Tears coursed down her cheeks as the wail turned into a muffled choking sob while she watched the gurney pushed into the open elevator door where Neal Davis was waiting. Chuny gave them a reassuring nod and then leaned to tuck the blanket more closely as the doors closed. Only then did Abby turn in Luka’s arms, pull the face mask off and pressed her cheek to his chest.
“She’s going to be all right, Luka,” she choked. “She’s going to be fine.” Her arms slipped around his waist, her hands resting on his back and she felt him shaking as he clung to her and cried.
Standing in the corridor of the pediatric isolation unit was the hardest thing she’d ever had to do. For a while she had stood with her head pressed against the window as she watched Chuny with Lauren……and then Luka. She finally pulled a chair around to the glass door and sat to watch. People went in and came out. Every one of them used gowns, gloves and masks. They all nodded grimly at her as they went on their way. Cardiology residents and interns. Nephrology. Pulmonology. In and out. Cultures. Readings. Stats. Poking and prodding. And Lauren slept through most of it. The few times she had been awake while Chuny was with her, she had lifted her up to the door so Abby could see her. But then Lauren had cried and it was too hard not to go in. With Luka, it had been easier. He even coaxed a bit of a smile from her. Abby studied him now, sleeping next to Lauren’s bed in the recliner that was standard in every pediatric room. It was comfortable for most people but hardly constructed for someone as tall as he was. She supressed a smile as she saw that he had slipped his shoes off. Her eyes darted to the bed as Lauren stirred and then settled back to sleep. She stood up from her own chair and picked up the coffee cup she’d set on the nearby table. It was empty. She tossed it into the trash can and looked up as she noticed someone coming down the hall toward the glass doors of the isolation ward. It was Susan.
Abby waited as Susan signed in at the desk, spoke to the nurses there and then made her way toward her.
“Hi,” Susan said softly as she drew her into her arms. “You okay? I came as soon as I could.” Abby nodded as she pulled away and brushed tears from her eyes. Susan peered into the window of Lauren’s unit and her lips tightened.
“You two need to go home and get some rest,” she said. She pulled a gown from the rolling cart next to the door and handed a blanket to Abby as she pulled the gown on. Abby closed her eyes thankfully as she recognized the quilt Maggie had made for Lauren when she was born. Her blankie.
“I found that in a basket by the clothes dryer,” Susan said. “Did you bleach it?” Abby nodded and clung to it as she watched Susan tie the gown on and slip her hands into the required gloves. Susan’s eyes never left Abby’s face as she slipped the mask on and then took the blanket from her.
“Go home, Abby. You’ve been here almost twenty four hours,” Susan ordered. “You’re not going to do anyone any good if you get worn down yourself. I’ll send Luka out. Go home.”
“But what about Cosmo and Sus…..”
“Brett’s sister is home from college,” Susan said as she opened the glass door. “Word on the street is that she’s flunked out. Her mom is going crazy. Anyway, she’s going to pick them up and stay with them after school. Don’t worry about anything. Just…go….home and rest.” Abby nodded. Susan opened the door again.
“Oh, by the way,” she said. “You and I are going to have a heart to heart one day soon. I maybe forgot to fill you in about the house but you didn’t tell me about the baby. God…Abby!” Grateful tears flooded Abby’s eyes and she nodded as Susan scowled affectionately and then closed the door. Abby watched as Susan woke Luka and then turned to spread the little quilt over Lauren. She checked the IV and then listened as Luka rattled off what had been happening. She nodded and gestured him out of the room. Susan’s eyes were smiling at them as she leaned down close to Lauren’s ear. Abby heard snatches of what she was saying as Luka opened the door and pulled off the gown and mask he wore.
“One little hippo all alone, called TWO hippos on the phone…..” Susan said quietly. A hint of a smile crossed Lauren’s sleeping face. Abby took a deep breath and leaned close as Luka wrapped an arm across her shoulder.
“She’ll be fine,” he sighed. “Susan’s with her.” Abby nodded and kissed her fingers. She pressed the tips on the window and then they headed out of the isolation ward toward the elevator.